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Hurdles
Hurdles is a retired grocery product pricing game with a Track & Field setup. Gameplay The centerpiece of Hurdles was a large game board featuring a hurdler on a race track. The contestant was shown a grocery item and its price, which were displayed next to the hurdler; as such, this price was called the "hurdler's price", and denoted the price over which the contestant could jump. The contestant was then shown three pairs of grocery items at the base of the board, one at a time. Each pair represented a hurdle and consisted of one item that was priced below the hurdler's price and one that was priced above it. The contestant was asked to pick the item of each pair which was below the hurdler's price, which would allow him to clear all three hurdles; flags were placed to mark the three selected items. After all three pairs were played, a starting pistol was fired into the air, which started the hurdler across the game board to the playing of the William Tell Overture (which was later used as the timer cue for Race Game on the 1985 syndicated Tom Kennedy version). At each pair of grocery items, the hurdle representing the chosen item would rise into the path of the hurdler. If the correct item were chosen, it would stop below his path and reveal the price; if not, it would block him, causing the hurdler to crash. If the hurdler cleared all three hurdles, the contestant won the prize. The simplified goal of Hurdles was to pick the less expensive of three pairs of grocery items. In this way, the game had the opposite goal to other retired games, Trader Bob, Give or Keep and Finish Line – however the latter two games did allow a contestant the possibility of winning even by getting one selection wrong, depending on the prices used. When the game was lost, a crashing sound was heard, also used in Cliff Hangers prior to 1986. In addition, the screen would shake and the word "CRASH" or "OOPS" (similar to the interjective balloons used in the 1966-1968 TV series Batman) was displayed. Contestants were occasionally allowed to fire the pistol themselves, but a few held it too close to their face startling them when it went off, not to mention that they had a tendency to blow out their ears when doing so. One fellow (William from Bradford, Tennessee, born circa 1958) pointed it towards the barrel and then pointed it towards Bob on a show aired October 1982. Retirement While played frequently throughout its time in The Price is Right's rotation, Hurdles was prone to mechanical failure. Often, the hurdle components were not in sync with the runner, and they sometimes failed to work at all. These constant breakdowns led to the game's retirement. Nighttime Appearances Hurdles was one of five pricing games introduced in the fifth and final nighttime season hosted by Dennis James – the other four being Cliff Hangers, Dice Game, Danger Price, and 3 Strikes. Category:Pricing Games Category:Retired Games Category:Grocery Product Games Category:1970s Pricing Games Category:Can't Make a Mistake Category:Must be Correct to Continue Category:Center Stage Pricing Games